Beyond the Apollo 11 moon landing: Neil Armstrong's close friend reveals a different side of legend

The golfer, an amateur with a respectable 16-handicap, topped his tee shot and watched it dribble into a large fairway bunker on Jack Nicklaus’ famed Muirfield Village Golf Club in suburban Columbus, Ohio. Undeterred, the man followed it, took another whack at it, watched it travel five yards, then hit it again, and again, and again.

Before he managed to reach the fairway, one of his playing partners had seen enough. Raising his voice to make sure he would be heard, legendary NFL coach Paul Brown said, “Is this the man who went to the moon?”

Indeed it was. Neil Armstrong, good sport that he was, laughed, and Brown and another member of the foursome, former LPGA Commissioner Charlie Mechem, laughed with him.

When the levity died down, though, Armstrong didn’t pick up his ball, as many a golfer has in a similar situation.

“Neil never would pick up, ever,” Mechem said in a phone interview Wednesday. “No matter if he was lying 20, he would finish the job. That’s just the kind of person he was.”

In 1971, just two years after the moon landing, Mechem, then chairman and CEO of Taft Broadcasting, met Armstrong for the first time in the parking lot of the Kings Island amusement park Mechem’s company was in the process of building north of Cincinnati. Armstrong, who had recently retired from NASA and returned home to Ohio to teach aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati, had expressed interest in how everything from the roller coasters to a replica of the Eiffel Tower was being constructed. A mutual friend contacted Mechem, who was more than happy to show him.

Over the next 41 years, until Armstrong’s death on August 25, 2012, due to complications from heart bypass surgery at the age of 82, Mechem developed an enduring friendship with the first man to walk on the moon — the 50th anniversary of which is being celebrated Saturday.

“When I met him that day in the parking lot, I wanted to pinch myself,” said Mechem, who ran the LPGA from 1991-95. “But he made it so easy to talk with him. He was just a regular guy. I want to say he was so down to earth, but that sounds pretty funny, doesn’t it?”

Armstrong and Mechem were the same age, born a month apart in the summer of 1930. Mechem was so impressed with Armstrong that he asked him to join the Taft Broadcasting board of directors.

“Did he say yes instantly?” Mechem recalled. “No, he didn’t. Neil spent nearly two hours asking me questions: Why did I think he would be a good board member? He really wanted to know. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t using him just for his name.”

Armstrong was famously reticent, avoiding publicity and most autograph seekers at all costs. But he was hardly an introvert, Mechem said.

“Every year at Taft Broadcasting, we held a senior management event, and I can still picture him singing and playing poker,” Mechem said. “When it wasn’t about him, he loved it.”

The Mechems, Armstrongs and two other couples took a handful of trips over the years: to Vermont, to Pebble Beach, to Tuscany. In Italy, they toured the Leonardo da Vinci Museum, which included miniature replicas of da Vinci’s most famous inventions.

“Of course we didn’t know any of them, but Neil knew every single one, so he started telling us about them, one by one,” Mechem said. “When we finished, I turned around and there must have been 20 people following us, listening to Neil’s every word. They thought he was the tour guide.”

Armstrong invited Mechem and Dudley Taft, president of Taft Broadcasting, to watch the first night moon launch, the Apollo 17 liftoff, on Dec. 7, 1972. They met in Tampa, then Armstrong drove them across the state to Cape Canaveral. As they neared the launch site, Armstrong realized he had forgotten his wallet and his identification.

Mechem and Taft anticipated what would happen next.

“Hi, I’m Neil Armstrong,” he would say at the security check point.

And the guard would reply, “Yeah, and I’m George Washington!”

The trio roared in laughter. But this really wasn’t funny. How in the world were they going to get in to see the launch?

Armstrong pressed on. When he came to the guard gate, he rolled down his window, ready to start explaining. It turned out that would not be necessary.

“Hey, aren’t you Neil Armstrong?” the guard asked.

“Yes! Yes, he is!” Mechem and Taft shouted, making sure Armstrong would have to agree to being recognized just this once, and in they went.

Over the years, Mechem and Armstrong remained close. Armstrong wrote the foreword for Mechem’s book, “Who’s That With Charlie?”, focusing on the parallel lives of two boys growing up in Ohio during the Depression and World War II. Armstrong deferred to his pal Mechem by calling himself “the other boy.”

And Mechem, who spoke at Armstrong’s memorial service, returned the favor by never asking Armstrong about the Apollo 11 mission or his first steps on the moon simply because he knew Armstrong didn’t want to talk about it.

“He was just so humble that he could never come to grips with the enormity of his own persona,” Mechem said. “He didn’t want to take any more credit than any of the hundreds of thousands of other people who helped make it happen. He used to say, ‘We just followed directions. We just did what we were told to do.’ "

And what would Armstrong think of all the attention being given to him and surviving Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins during the 50th anniversary celebrations this week?

“He would be incredibly proud of what the mission accomplished but he would be humbled and maybe even embarrassed by the adulation,” Mechem said. “He’d say, ‘I wish I could go somewhere where I didn’t have to hear all this stuff.’ I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Neil Armstrong would say.”

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx sits up on his cycle and takes it easy as he leads the pack during the eighth lap of the Tour de France, 1969. This would be the first of five victories for Merckx at the Tour de France. AFP/Getty Images

Tony Jacklin of Great Britain tees off from the 4th during the British Open Golf Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Anne's Golf Club on July 10, 1969, where he shares the lead with a 70 after the second round. He went on to win the title. Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Guard Terry O'Brien of Santa Clara finds his way blocked by guard Kenny Heitz, center, of UCLA and forward Lynn Shackelford of UCLA as they put on a full court press to keep their lead in the finals of NCAA western regional playoffs at UCLA on March 15, 1969 in Los Angeles. The strategy worked as UCLA won the right to go to Louisville, 90 to 52. AP

Los Angeles Lakers Wilt Chamberlain,13, and Boston Celtics Bailey Howell ,18, and Sam Jones ,24, move to gain control of loose ball in the fourth period of their NBA playoff game at Boston Garden, April 27, 1969. The Celtics won 111-105 but trail 2 games to one in the championship. Frank C. Curtin, AP

Jockey Bill Hartack has his whip upraised aboard majestic Prince thundering to win the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, May 3, 1969. Arts and Letters, right, has all four hoofs off the ground in running a close second. Dike, who was third, is hidden behind the winner. Anonymous, ASSOCIATED PRESS

These cars and drivers will make up the front row of the field at the Indianapolis 500 mile race on May 30, 1969. From left, Bobby Unser, Albuquerque, N. Mex, who qualified at a speed of 169.683 mph; Mario Andretti, Nazareth, Pa., 169.851; and the pole sitter, A.J. Foyt, Houston, Tex., 170.568 on May 25, 1969 at Indianapolis. AP

Billie Jean King, U.S.A., is shown during action play at the women's singles final at the Open Lawn Tennis championships in Bristol, England on June 14, 1969. King was defeated by Australian champion Margaret Court, 6-3, 6-3. Court's 53-minute victory was worth 800 pound sterling, the highest award for a women's singles in an open event in Britain. AP

Excited fans stand and cheer when an announcement came over the public address system of a safe lunar landing for the Eagle, Apollo 11, during the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs doubleheader baseball game, at Connie Mack Stadium, July 20, 1969, Philadelphia, PA. Bill Ingraham, AP

David Pearson, from Spartanburg, South Carolina is congratulated by Pure Oil Queen Helen Pollack, after winning the Yankee 600 mile stock car race and the $21,550 cash award. The race, held at Michigan International Speedway on August 18, 1969, was hampered by rain but Pearson's 69 Ford averaged 115.508 miles per hour. ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Oct. 16, 1969 file photo, New York Mets catcher Jerry Grote embraces pitcher Jerry Koosman as the Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth game to win the World Series at New York's Shea Stadium. At left is teammate Ed Charles. AP